High red counts and APOE4

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thlas1971!
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High red counts and APOE4

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Just curious if others have seen this in their labs... my bloodwork over the past few years has shown high and increasing levels of red blood cells. Everything else is normal. Any relation to APOE3/4 status?

I’m a 47 y/o female
Hematocrit 49.6
Hemoglobin 16.1
Rbc 5.38




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Last edited by thlas1971! on Sun Apr 28, 2019 6:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
Teresa APOE3/4
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Re: High red counts and APOE4

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thlas1971! wrote:Just curious if others have seen this in their labs... my bloodwork over the past few years has shown high and increasing levels of red blood cells.
do you smoke?
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Re: High red counts and APOE4

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Nope. You are suggesting secondary polycythemia due to low oxygens - smoking, sleep apnea or tobacco use. If I had that my EPO hormone would be high I think... like 20. Mine is under 4. From the number of views and lack of comments I’m thinking it might be unrelated to apoe status. Hmmm


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Teresa APOE3/4
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Re: High red counts and APOE4

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thlas1971! wrote:From the number of views and lack of comments I’m thinking it might be unrelated to apoe status.
Might be worth a pubmed search if you have the time and energy. What does your doctor think?
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Re: High red counts and APOE4

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Was being checked for Polycythemia Vera but no conclusive results. Mayo ran the most common genetic mutations tests but not all of them. At this point just ongoing blood checks to see if I get sicker. :/ Then perhaps more testing. Not sure at this point. Just knowing that apoe4 has cardiac risks it is concerning to also have high red counts. A double whammy for clotting.


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Re: High red counts and APOE4

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thlas1971! wrote:Just curious if others have seen this in their labs... my bloodwork over the past few years has shown high and increasing levels of red blood cells. Everything else is normal. Any relation to APOE3/4 status?

I’m a 47 y/o female
Hematocrit 49.6
Hemoglobin 16.1
Rbc 5.38
Hi thias1971,
It may not be related to ApoE 3/4 and it may not be that high--based on the ranges provided to me with the results of blood work I have done every 6 months as part of the Generations I study as a 4/4. Here are the normal ranges my reports show, and the ranges of scores I've had:

Hematocrit: Normal range = 36-46. Mine have ranged from 47 in March 2017 to 40 in March 2019, but the lead study doctor noted that the initial result of 47 (above the "normal" high of 46) was of "no clinical significance". Your score of 49.6 may also be viewed as only a shade above normal.

Hemoglobin: Normal range= 12-16. Mine have been in the 12-13 range. Again, I would expect that your score of 16.1 would merit a "no clinical significance"

RBC: Normal range=3.9-5.5 x 10^6/u/L. I have only one score there of 4.4. Your score of 5.38 would still be in the normal range.

My own doctor has talked about the fact that biomarker results are formulated as indicators and by themselves may be outliers with no clinical significance. As someone who gave and scored a lot of "standardized" tests to kids, a normal standardized score for a child might be anything between 85-115. That didn't mean if the child had a score of 116 she was highly unusual, just that she was moving towards the right end of the bell curve.

You don't mention scores of folic acid, which can trend higher for people whose bodies store iron. I have no idea if that might track with your blood work, but I know that I switched to a multi-vitamin without iron when I saw that my folate result had jumped from 29 in March 2018 to 42 in June 2018. Bredesen's recommended range is 10-25. By March 2019 my folate score was back down to 19.

Have you talked with your primary care provider about the results?
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KatieS
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Re: High red counts and APOE4

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As previously mentioned sleep apnea could be the etiology of the higher RBC. I have sleep apnea and after treatment, my slightly high RBC count has declined to normal since I am no longer having nightly oxygenation desaturations. Having Apoe4 ,despite being thin, not the stereotypical sleep apnea patient, puts us at risk. So possibly sleep apnea needs to be considered to rule out particularly if you snore or have a small jaw/narrow throat airway.
Last edited by KatieS on Tue Apr 30, 2019 7:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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High red counts and APOE4

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Interesting... husband says I don’t snore but perhaps I should get tested, however my epo hormone isn’t elevated which it would be with sleep apnea I think.


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Re: High red counts and APOE4

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KatieS wrote:As Slacker mentioned sleep apnea could be the etiology of the higher RBC.
It was thlas1971! :lol:
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